


Something New

by cloverfield



Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: Established Relationship, Kanji - Freeform, M/M, Mr and Mr, Names, Something Old Something New Something Borrowed Something Blue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22101418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverfield/pseuds/cloverfield
Summary: The weight of heavy hands on his shoulders is grounding, holding him down to earth, and so too the warm curlinghmmof Shin’s voice as he leans in close, chin catching steady on Sena’s shoulder as his husband (and he’sallowedto sound a little awed thinking that in the privacy of his own head, his husband his husbandhis husband–) tilts his head a little to better see what Sena has been working on.
Relationships: Kobayakawa Sena/Shin Seijuurou
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	Something New

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kitty_KatAllie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_KatAllie/gifts).



> Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...

They combine their names.

It’s a Western thing to do, not exactly traditional, but a compromise for a difficult decision that can’t be made - and the first time Sena adds the extra kanji ( _Shin_ , Shin’s name, his _husband’s_ name, _Shin his husband_ –) to the old familiar ones his hands are shaking so badly the stark black lines are almost lost to squiggles entirely.

It gets easier, though, and it’s not like he doesn’t have the _practice_ , anyway, writing _this name_ of all names over and over again (on the margin of his notebooks, scratched into lined paper by furtive penstrokes and then scratched out again in desperate embarrassment; written inkless in the palm of his hand by trembling fingertips before each game started, each drifting stroke a blind and silent wish and a desperate hope, all at once) and it’s not long at all before it’s close to second nature - Shinkobayakawa Sena, a new name for a new man, flowing easily in ink and in breath and in every light footstep he takes as he walks home each night, exhausted but happy with the glow of knowing who is waiting for him.

Sena feels new and old all at once, all at the same time - like a part of him he didn’t know was there has sloughed away, those tired insecurities worn away at last to bare the core of him - and if he was tender at first, as easily bruised as the way his hands were in those first few days of football, well, time makes all things tougher, and the calluses now feel as warm and as familiar as the worn-in cloth of well-used gloves.

“You’re making that face again. The one where you’re thinking.”

“Sh– _Seijuurou!!_ ”

Sena almost jumps out of his skin entirely, almost hits the ceiling with how hard he starts from his seat on the low couch - but the weight of heavy hands on his shoulders is grounding, holding him down to earth, and so too the warm curling _hmm_ of Shin’s voice as he leans in close, chin catching steady on Sena’s shoulder as his husband (and he’s _allowed_ to sound a little awed thinking that in the privacy of his own head, his husband his husband _his husband–_ ) tilts his head a little to better see what Sena has been working on.

“Ah. The nameplate for the entrance.”

It’s not a question - Shin never says something unless he is entirely sure, after all - but Sena answers it like it was all the same, smiling as he snaps the blue cap back on the pen and drops it back to the table, lifting up the flat metal plaque, brassy and gleaming in his hands.

“Yeah. I thought- well, it was time. It’s our name now, so we needed a new one.”

It’s not perfect - the kanji are only written in permanent marker, after all, not the neatly embossed engraved characters like every other nameplate belonging to every other apartment in the complex, and sooner or later they’re going to need to actually get a proper one made up, but, well.

 _Shinkobayakawa_ , written in blue ink as neatly as Sena could manage with hands that trembled just a little and a heart that felt too heavy and too warm in his chest; and below it _Seijuurou_ , and below that _Sena -_ the three names of this household, two families combined and a new one born from that union.

(Maybe one day they’ll write another name below theirs, or maybe they won’t - but they’re a family now, and _that_ won’t ever change.)

“Hn.” The noise is thoughtful, and the straight line of his husband’s arm stretches out long and sure as he reaches out to brush his hand against dark blue characters thankfully dry, tracing fingertips over the lines Sena had written with all the care and hope he had in him.

Shin smiles, and Sena can _feel it_ even without seeing it - the barest curl of warmth to the stern line of that familiar and much-loved mouth - and then the catch of Shin’s lips against his ear as his husband leans in closer still, his voice dark and soft and all things dear, is enough to make his toes curl in happiness.

“I like it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted from my now-defunct tumblr; a giftfic in response to [this post](https://spainkitty.tumblr.com/post/154148055947/okay-shinsena-fans-where-you-at-cuz-me-n-ketolic).


End file.
